The Haircut, the Lid, and the Fountain
by MoonVest
Summary: A haircut, a lid, and a fountain. Who knew that such different things could tell the same story... The events that we didn't see in "The Job", told from three very different perspectives. The K is just to be safe. Please R R-My first Office fanfic!
1. Memo from Scranton

"So, long haul…"

Jim was lost. Gone from David, from New York, from Dunder-Mifflin…the yogurt lid and the memo tranquilized him, locking him in…

The chair he was sitting in, in this cushy Midtown office, didn't feel real. The fabric underneath him shifted, and it became his slightly squeaky desk chair, facing…

Her. Pam was smiling at him. He smiled back. That smile…the one he had chased for years…let her slip away…

Suddenly he looked up. David was saying something. Startled, he quickly moved the memo under the chair and tried to pretend he was paying attention.

"Where do you see yourself in ten years?"

Ten years…he saw himself, in ten years, hearing that voice, the voice that…

"Dunder-Mifflin, this is Grace".

Jim was silent. That wasn't right. None of this was right. Pam. Dunder-Mifflin, this is Pam. It had always been Pam, sitting behind that reception desk, not Grace…waiting for him…

"Jim?"

Smiling at him, waiting for him, she had always been right there waiting for him…

"Jim."

Jim looked back up.

"I asked you a question." David looked impatient.

"I'm sorry, I just…"

He looked through the glass door at the receptionist sitting there. He wasn't thinking about the black woman sitting there, but the one he would never see again…

He couldn't deal with this.

"David…I…can't do this." Wallace looked confused. "I don't belong here. David, I'm sorry…"

David looked at him questioningly. "What are you saying?"

Jim tried to hold his breath, hold himself back, but it was a feeble attempt. The words came flowing out, the ones that needed to be said.

"Scranton. I see myself in Scranton, David….that's all I ever wanted. And…I don't belong here. Give the job to Karen, or…" His voice trailed off as he realized he was now standing behind the chair, his hands planted on it firmly. He quickly removed his hands, scared of the hypnotizing hold thoughts of her had on him.

"I have to leave. Remove my name from consideration…"

"Are you sure about this, Jim?"

David's voice pierced the room's silence. Jim now realized the magnitude of what he was about to do-give it all up.

"Yes."

"Good luck". David said. He seemed to understand what was happening, that Jim had something to do, that this was a risk he had to take or he would regret it forever…Jim nodded and rushed out, his head still spinning, swimming…his footsteps were heavy on the carpet. Everyone stared at him as he stalked out that door, the light ahead of him, facing the unknown but yet so sure of what he was about to do.


	2. Power Couple

_My friends are jerks_, Fillipelli thought as she sat in the crowded booth of the trendy bistro, squished between two pantsuits. At the present, they were all having a laugh over floppy-haired Halpert, her worthless paper-salesman boyfriend. Karen looked around the table at her fancy Sex and the City career-woman friends. She could have been like them: the merger was her chance. Instead, she decided to follow Jim, her boyfriend, to Scranton. "The Electric City" was far from electric…in fact, it was the most boring place on Earth, and her friends didn't let her forget it.

But none of that mattered anymore. Either she or Jim were shoo-ins for the job, and-they had discussed this last night-they would move with the other one to Manhattan. And they would live together, go to all the cocktail parties, experience the culture, and the energy. They would live what Karen had always wanted, and they could be done with that dry, dull town in Pennsylvania. There was nowhere for Jim to go there, and he knew it. There was nothing for him there-for either of them. But now she and Jim were going to build a new life together.

At first in the relationship, there had been some uncertainty-but Jim was over the receptionist and ready to be with her. Things were different between them-they had a bond, a connection, and she knew they would stay together for the rest of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Halpert.

And she could rub it in her stupid friends' faces.


End file.
